About Us

The U.S. Climate Task Force (CTF) is a project of the economic advisory firm Sonecon, LLC. CTF seeks to bring together leaders from business, the environmental community, academia and public life to examine a range of climate change policy options. The goal of CTF is to provide a platform for a broad, transparent and vigorous discussion of all proposed policy options and their implications for the economy and environment.

Ignoring the risks of climate change is not an acceptable option for our country. Action is clearly imperative, but it is equally important to ensure that whatever action is taken substantially and measurable reduces emissions, and does so without the imposition of unnecessary and burdensome costs to the economy. For our part, the CTF intends to be active participants in the debate on climate change policy, providing lawmakers and stakeholders with leading research on policy options and guidance toward a meaningful and balanced solution.

• Be economy-wide;
• Ensure a knowable and stable cost trajectory for pricing carbon;
• Maximize the use of markets;
• Eliminate costs that have no direct benefits;
• Embrace and encourage efficiency, cost-transparency and accountability;
• Minimize complexity to reduce administrative costs; and,
• Allow for and encourage the participation of the global community.

To date, Washington has focused on a narrow range of legislative proposals, many of which inadequately address the entirety of the issue. This limited debate has not allowed for a realistic examination of the costs and benefits of those approaches or their alternatives. Any serious strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions will have significant costs. We are committed to promoting those strategies which can best contain costs while maximizing the long-term benefits for everyone.

Advisors:
Alan Blinder, Princeton Professor and former Deputy Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Kevin Hassett, Director of Economic Studies for the American Enterprise Institute